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Where's this phantom noise coming from??


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Firstly, Happy New Year to everyone!

Now for the unpleasant bit: my EQ (both in Pro-Q and Ozone) is picking up disconcerting background noise even with no audio playing (see screenshot). At first, I thought it might be coming from my computer, on which my audio interface is standing, but when I moved it away, the noise remained.  

Does anyone have an idea what this could be?

phantom noise.PNG

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What other plugins and instruments are on all the tracks and buses feeding that one?

Some plugins generate noise as part of their function; it may be so low you can't even hear it but still be able to see it in an analyzer view. 

 

Is input echo on for any track?  General input noise can also do that. 

 

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11 hours ago, Amberwolf said:

What other plugins and instruments are on all the tracks and buses feeding that one?

Some plugins generate noise as part of their function; it may be so low you can't even hear it but still be able to see it in an analyzer view. 

 

Is input echo on for any track?  General input noise can also do that. 

 

Agreed. Disable all the plugins in your project to see if the noise disappears. Some plugins can generate noise even though the project is not playing. Guitar amp plugins and some Waves plugins can be guilty of this. One Waves plugin that springs to mind is Waves H-Delay which has an analogue option (which you should set to ‘off’), but there are others.

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Thank you all for your useful input. I was able to find the culprit - I switched off each Vst one by one in the Synth Rack and was able to pinpoint Analog V! Pity because this soft synth has several nice instruments. But, the noise is not audible, so I guess I can get away with it. Unless this could cause frequency buildups in time?

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54 minutes ago, Cobus Prinsloo said:

Thank you all for your useful input. I was able to find the culprit - I switched off each Vst one by one in the Synth Rack and was able to pinpoint Analog V!

Can you pinpoint which preset of which synth in Analog V is causing the noise?  If possible, maybe you can edit the preset to eliminate just the noise component of that preset.  However, you will need the full version of that specific synth the do the edit.

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3 minutes ago, Amberwolf said:

It may not even be a preset--it might be an option, or a global effect, that is meant to help emulate some analog property.

Either way, it might still be editable....

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Why bother. When I run into stuff like this I just delete the synth and move on. There’s so many options these days that one need not fight and waist time with broken junk. 
I remember that was a synth that I tossed out after demoing it .  Can’t remember why but it’s gone! 

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On 1/4/2025 at 2:42 PM, Sock Monkey said:

Why bother. When I run into stuff like this I just delete the synth and move on.

True. But in this case, I don't wanna lose it, because it's a good synth with lots of downloadable free sounds from Arturia's website

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There are a ton of “analog” plugins that do this! Plugin alliance comes to mind. Also the word tube in a plugin will usually have some noise. One thing that will help a little is to drive the input into the plugin at a higher amplitude. Then, lower the output by the same amount. You might be able to lower the noise 3-6-10db. Just experiment with it.  Sometimes there is a switch that says analog, noise, or low noise. 

Edited by Max Arwood
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1 hour ago, Cobus Prinsloo said:

True. But in this case, I don't wanna lose it, because it's a good synth with lots of downloadable free sounds from Arturia's website

Which is why I asked which preset in Analog V is causing the noise....

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9 minutes ago, Cobus Prinsloo said:

Luckily it looks like only one instrument (strings), and not the whole vst causing the noise. Thanks for the feedback.

Do you happen to own the individual Arturia instrument this preset comes from?

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On 1/6/2025 at 4:26 PM, Promidi said:

Do you happen to own the individual Arturia instrument this preset comes from?

Oh -- I'm afraid I cannot check because I deleted the synth from my project! It had been sitting there unused anyway. But if I remember correctly, it was one of the presets that come with the free download of A Lab.

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There are a handful of VSTs that process effects (especially inserting noise) even without the transport running, so I am more inclined to think that was an FX on the synth's internal rack rather than the synth itself. iZotope's Vinyl is another such VST to be aware of.

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23 hours ago, Cobus Prinsloo said:

I'm afraid I cannot check because I deleted the synth from my project!

I don't have Analog Lab V, but have seen other analog-modeling Arturia synths make quiescent noise at a low level - not  audible, but visible in meters and analyzers as your screenshot shows.

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On 1/3/2025 at 4:29 AM, Cobus Prinsloo said:

for the unpleasant bit: my EQ (both in Pro-Q and Ozone) is picking up disconcerting background noise

Thats by design. These plugins emulate analog gear. 

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